


Not Today

by misura



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Season/Series 01, Syrio Forel Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23767597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "So," Syrio said, staring down at the dead bodies with the air of a master judging his student's work. "You are here also."
Relationships: Syrio Forel & Jaqen H'ghar
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Not Today

_Typical_ thought Jaqen; he'd come here looking forward to getting some rest in a black cell while waiting for transport, and instead, here he was, sticking knives in people who most definitely deserved having knives stuck in them.

Put like that, it didn't sound too bad. Still, it was as Syrio had no doubt told his lovely young student: _not today_. Today hadn't been meant for killing. Today had been meant for peace and quiet and the contemplation of his own mortality.

Instead, he'd ended up contemplating Syrio's mortality and, quite unforgivably, had decided that while he approved of it in theory, in practice, he preferred Syrio alive, because - well. A man did need to have some friends, and while he and Syrio hadn't always been friendly, at least they weren't enemies.

"So," Syrio said, staring down at the dead bodies with the air of a master judging his student's work. "You are here also."

Jaqen shrugged. He knew better than to expect thanks, and yet he caught himself hoping for something other than scorn, dismissal. "A man needs to be somewhere."

"Quite so," Syrio said, nodding, as if this were a lesson and Jaqen his attentive pupil. "Quite so. And now, I think it is best if we both were to be elsewhere, yes? Perhaps in the place you wish to go next, you would like a friend?"

It was as close an offer of friendship as Jaqen had ever received, and yet.

He inclined his head. "A man regrets to say that he has obligations elsewhere, requiring him to travel alone."

Syrio scoffed. "Alone. And what is a man alone?"

 _Free to worry for nothing but the disposal of his target,_ Jaqen thought. _Free from worrying about others who would face six men armed with steel while holding only a wooden practice sword._ "A man might appreciate your company another time," he said, because having a job did not require him to apologize, and Syrio should know better than to expect that of him.

Syrio grinned. "But not today, eh? Not today."

"Not today," Jaqen agreed, already considering his schedule, the effects these new developments would have on his mission - none whatsoever, if he was lucky and kept a cool head, but then, a man relying on luck rarely succeeded in achieving his goals.

Syrio gestured imperiously with the stump of his sword. "Then go. We will be meeting again, I think. One day. In Braavos."

"If the Red God wills it," Jaqen said, sketching a salute - Syrio scowled, which probably meant he'd gotten it right, and that it was something not meant for a Faceless Man to know, which made it all the more useful, of course.

(He hadn't, quite, counted on Syrio's sweet pupil avenging their master in quite so cunning a fashion, but then, a man might grow careless if life did not surprise him from time to time.)


End file.
